‘Quitting’ Singles’ Day: NetEase platform decries complicated gimmicks for world’s largest shopping festival
- NetEase Yanxuan declares in a social media manifesto that it opposes ‘complicated discount gimmicks’
- Some shoppers say they find it difficult to follow the numerous deals and promotions associated with the planet’s biggest shopping day
Has the world’s biggest shopping day become too elaborate for its own good? Chinese e-commerce giants that revel in the annual retail ritual on November 11 may disagree, but NetEase says it has had enough.
In a manifesto published on Wednesday, a week before the shopping bonanza, the internet behemoth announced, “This Singles’ Day, we are quitting the battle.”
Quit might be an exaggeration. The company’s shopping platform, NetEase Yanxuan, said it still plans to bring consumers “the year’s strongest subsidies” – steep discounts, in other words. “The products we prepare for Yanxuan’s Singles’ Day will be the cheapest all year,” it posted on Weibo.
NetEase said what it really opposes is what it derides as “complicated discount gimmicks” and “overconsumption”.
“An enchanting evening spent in a five-star hotel room cannot compare to the sound sleep that a natural latex pillow can give you every night,” said Yanxuan, which specialises in affordable merchandise ranging from household appliances to food and beverages.
